The Death Hour
by Duckyumbrella
Summary: ...hot tears burned silver paths down her cheeks, mixing with the drying dirt and blood that streaked her heart-shaped face. Her breath hitched painfully as she desperately listened for someone, anyone, who would come to their rescue...
1. Chapter 1

Yeah so this is a random one-shot I thought up and wrote down in the middle of the night a few months ago. I'm not sure if I want to add to it or not. Depends on the kind of feedback I receive.

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**The Death Hour**

"Help!" she moaned one last time as hot tears burned silver paths down her cheeks, mixing with the drying dirt and blood that streaked her heart-shaped face. Her breath hitched painfully as she desperately listened for someone, anyone, who would come to their rescue. The tall, condescending evergreens suffocated her, efficiently muting her to the outside world. Even the nocturnal woodland creatures seemed to have abandoned her, for the cool, starlit night was eerily silent; like a tomb.

It was only by the light of the full moon that she was able to see the boy laying on the ground in front of her. He lay spread-eagle on his back, gazing unseeingly at the sprinkle of stars in the black sky. The boy's chest and abdomen was completely soaked in blood, as well as a dark crimson puddle forming beneath him. The source of the bleeding; a gunshot wound to the chest, was being desperately covered up by the girl's shaking, now cramped, hands.

"Stay awake, please, just stay awake." she repeated this mantra over and over again, whimpering softly as burning scarlet liquid continued to dribble through the cracks between her fingers. With his last bit of strength, the boy placed his hand on top of hers, squeezing her hand gently in silent comfort.

Staring at his stark white face, she wanted more than anything to wipe the blood from his chin, stroke his cheek, do anything to make the accepted sadness and pain in his cloudy eyes go away. But she couldn't risk taking any pressure off his injury. So she instead carefully leaned over and brushed her lips against his cheek, tasting the salty tears and blood on his clammy skin. She nestled her cheek against his, their blood and tears intermingling.

"I love you." She whispered, something foul in her gut telling her that the end was near. Her only response was his uneven, shallow breaths ruffling her hair until it slowed to nothing more than a whisper. She felt his heart gradually slow to a final stop beneath the palms of her hands.

"No, please no..." she hiccuped, desperately searching for any spark of life left in the boy's crystal eyes. There was none.

A low, almost inhuman wail broke through her lips, mourning the passing of the boy who, even in death, loosely held her hand within his. She turned her head upward at the starry sky and cried, "WHY?"

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Honey Wheeler sat up quickly, her pulse racing and hazel eyes wide in terror. Tears streaming down her face, she became acutely aware of the hand gently rubbing her back and the soothing voice crooning in her ear.

"It was just a dream. Everything's okay. It was just a dream." Brian Belden's deep baritone voice murmured comfortingly. "It was just a dream." Honey repeated, her voice quiet and raspy. Clearing her throat, she said, stronger this time, "It was just a dream."

Honey accepted the tissue box Brian offered her with a weak nod of her head, before proceeding to wipe the tears from her reddened cheeks.

The dark-haired teen gave the distressed girl another minute to compose herself before asking gently, "Do you want to talk about it?"

The memories of the dream flooded back to her full-force, and she barely managed to keep the next round of tears at bay. Honey shook her head slowly, "Not now." she pleaded, her voice shaking, "Please, not right now." Brian nodded in understanding and pulled her to his chest, making her feel secure enveloped in his arms.

Laying her head on his chest, Honey was mesmerized by the strong and steady _thump thump _of Brian's heart against her ear.

_What am I going to tell Brian?_ she wondered, the rhythmic sound of Brian's heart gently lulling her back to sleep. _How do I tell Brian that in my dream, I was unable to save him after he was shot, and the person who pulled the trigger was his own brother?_

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Review please!:)


	2. Chapter 2

I cannot thank danswritergirl, ps9906, bwg71, Mylee, 24QueenMo, impulse960, RedLion2, feliciabaca, and Melissa630 enough for their reviews and encouragement to continue this story! It's meant the world to me!:)

This story was self-edited quickly after I finished writing (about 10 minutes ago) so I apologize now for any mistakes. I'll also be reposting the first chapter because there's a spelling error that is really going to bother me.

All the words in_ italics _are Honey's thoughts.

I hope you enjoy my attempt at continuing a one-shot:)

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**The Death Hour**

**Part 2**

Honey desperately clutched the Brian's arm, staring in wide-eyed horror at the figure stepping out of the shadows of the trees into the clearing. _Not again... please... not again... _The light of the full moon glinted off of the silver barrel of the gun aimed at her head.

Ruthless ice blue eyes stared out at her, as an ugly gash of a smirk cut across their attacker's face. This terrible scene was all too familiar to the hazel-haired girl. _The dream..._ Honey realized, her heart constricting painfully, _It's coming true..._

Mart Belden laughed cruelly at the sight of his cowering prey, the sound so foreign coming from the once humorous, caring young man. Premature aging lines seemed to have darkened the man's face, and where, for so many weeks, had been grief in his china blue eyes, was now a stormy cloud of hatred.

"You killed her." Mart growled, swinging the gun to point it at Brian. Honey whimpered softly, _Please be another dream... please..._

Brian spoke softly in an attempt to calm the younger man. "I did all that I could, brother. But her wounds was fatal, and she fought the inevitable for as long as she could. There just wasn't enough time to get all the help that was needed. There was no more I could do for her." Honey looked around desperately, yet knowing in her gut that no one was around to save them._ Just like in the dream..._

"You could've done something, anything!" Mart interrupted angrily, eyes clouded with tears of loss. "You could have saved her, but you didn't! She had just told me she loved me... and then the accident... and then you... you..." The blond teen was trembling violently, his gun wavering ever so slightly. "You MURDERER!" he shrieked, before firing the gun at his older brother's chest.

Before she could stop him, Honey felt herself pushed off to the side out of harm's way, feeling her palms scrape open as she fell to the hard ground. She looked up in time to see the dark-haired teen slammed to the ground by the force of the bullet. _This can't be happening... Why is this happening?_ "NO!" she shrieked, crawling desperately over to Brian, seeing the shock and pain registered in his chocolate-brown eyes.

Honey looked up again as another merciless chuckle filled the night air. Rage poured through her before she could stop herself. "How could you? You are the one that's the murderer!" She put her hands to her mouth, not believing those words had just spilled forth.

Fully expecting to feel the ripping of a bullet through her own skin, Honey was startled to see the blond teen again laugh cruelly and pointed the gun instead at his own head.

"I've done what I came here to do." he stated, his blue eyes glittering in cruel satisfaction, "Goodnight to you both." The bang of the gun echoed louder than Honey's cry as Mart fell to the dirt ground, a smirk still twisted across his blood-covered face.

Choking back the bile rising in her throat, Honey turned away from the body. A small part of her mind still weakly protested, _Not again... not again..._

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"CUT! That's a wrap, people!" The director, Miss. Ridgy called from the audience, summoning the other students participating in the Sleepyside Theater play to reset the scene. The Bob-whites of the Glen were participating in their summer production entitled The Death Hour, the story of a girl who has a dream that her boyfriend gets murdered right in front of her, and throughout the play tries desperately to stop it, unknowingly helping her boyfriend's brother complete his diabolical plans.

"That was definitely your best shriek yet." Brian Belden commented as he gingerly sat up from where he had fallen on the wooden stage. The fake blood on his chest continued to dribble down his shirt as he gave Honey Wheeler, who was still kneeled beside him, a warm smile. "Nearly burst my ear drums that time." he added with a dry chuckle. "Thanks, Brian." Honey answered sarcastically, grinning down at her boyfriend.

"You've ruptured your tympanum? I did not presume that the vociferate of one Honey Wheeler was cacophonous enough to antecedent such an episode." Mart Belden's voice rang cheerily from behind them. Brian chuckled before asking teasingly, "Do you even know the meaning to half the words you say?"

Mart gasped dramatically, hand over his chest. The hurt look that he tried to pull off failed as his blue eyes twinkled in laughter, "I'm aghast, Brian! Are you incredulous of my extensive knowledge in the demesne of linguistic communication?"

After taking a moment to translate in her mind, Honey looked up at the blond and answered, "Yes, I do believe he is questioning your way with words." Just off stage, Mart's sister, Trixie, rolled her eyes as she saw her brother stagger backwards, a look of shock on his face. "Why, Honey Wheeler! Your words hurt me!"

Honey laughed and pointed up at his head, "I do believe the 'bullet' in your head hurt you more than I did." With a chuckle, Mart put a hand to the side of his head, feeling the fake blood that had dried against his scalp.

"Speaking of gunshot wounds... Miss. Ridgy wants to redo the scene where I shoot you again." Mart gently nudged Brian's leg with his foot. "So get up, you lazy corpse! I have to riddle you with some more holes!" Mart helped his brother up, and the three teens walked to the part of the stage where the scene began.

Brian held Honey's hand, as their characters' would do when they began the scene in a minute. "Are you still up for Wimpy's after rehearsal?" Brian whispered in her ear, sending a enjoyable shiver down her spine. "Yeah, we're still on." she answered, before planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"Action!" Miss. Ridgy screamed. "Come on!" Brian whispered to Honey so only she could hear, dark eyes twinkling in morbid mirth, "Let's end this rehearsal with a bang!"

**The End**

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Disclaimer: I own none of the charactors except Miss. Ridgy. Also, as far as I know, The Death Hour is not an actual play about a girl inadvertantly causing her boyfriend's death.

I swear writing those Mart sentences with all those big words will be the death of me:P

I hope you enjoyed! Please review!:)


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